According to a report released by the state yesterday, 46 patients in Oregon ended their lives with the assistance of their doctors in 2006. This is an increase of more than 20% from the previous year. That brings the total number of doctor-assisted suicides in Oregon to 292 since the law was enacted ten years ago.

In an AP interview, Compassion & Choices president Barbara Lee said about the nation’s only law that allows doctors to assist patients in killing themselves, “The practice has settled into a nice, safe, conservative practice.”

The jury is still out, however, on Ms. Lee’s subjective description of the Oregon Law. Oregonians who oppose doctor-assisted suicide see the practice as neither nice, nor safe, nor conservative.
…

In related news, a Colorado Springs woman woke up this week after being in a vegetative state for more than six years. Christa Lilly (right), who suffered a heart attack in 2000, awoke for three days speaking to family and media before slipping into a “minimally conscious state.”

Matt Wingard at the Wingard Report is talking about a school choice bill recently introduced in the legislature.  This looks like a great first step for school choice in Oregon.
 
The School Choice Working Group (which I am a part of in my role with Cascade Policy Institute) has drafted a bill to create 1,000 state-funded scholarships for low-income children in Portland. HB 3010 got its First Reading Monday on the House floor and will now be referred to a committee—most likely the House Education Committee. Twenty-nine legislators co-sponsored the bill—nearly one third of the Oregon State Legislature.
 
HB 3010 creates a pilot project within the poorest neighborhoods in Portland to allow low-income parents the same access to school choice that higher-income Oregonians already enjoy. Here are the basic details of the pilot project:
 
Students Must be Low-income: To enroll, the student must qualify for the federal free-lunch program and live in a neighborhood where a majority of the students in the local public school also qualify for a free-lunch.
 
Qualifying Neighborhoods: Tentatively, the school neighborhoods that would qualify would be Boise-Eliot, Clarendon, Humboldt, King, Lent, Peninsula, Rigler, Rosa Parks, Sitton, Vernon, Whitman, Woodlawn, Woodmere, Binnsmead MS, George, Lane MS, Ockley Green MS, Portsmouth MS, Tubman MS, Jefferson HS and Roosevelt HS.
 
Grant Amount: The grant would be equal to the per-student funding (ADM) amount from the State School Fund—roughly $5,000.
 
No Negative Financial Effect on Portland Public Schools: The Portland School District will not lose any state funding during the pilot project. The point of this element is to remove the money excuse from the people who run PPS.
 
Random Selection: If more than 1,000 qualified students apply, grants will be given out by lottery.
 
Every single legislator who co-sponsored HB 3010 deserves our thanks. The bill’s two Chief Sponsors are public school employees:
State Representative John Dallum was a school superintendent and
State Representative Jerry Krummel is a high school teacher.

Below are the emails of all 29 state legislators who stood up for minority parents in Portland. Courageous lawmakers need to be thanked. Please send them an email:
 
rep.johndallum@state.or.us, rep.jerrykrummel@state.or.us, sen.jasonatkinson@state.or.us, sen.rogerbeyer@state.or.us, sen.garygeorge@state.or.us, sen.larrygeorge@state.or.us, sen.jeffkruse@state.or.us, sen.brucestarr@state.or.us, sen.dougwhitsett@state.or.us, rep.brianboquist@state.or.us, rep.tombutler@state.or.us, rep.kevincameron@state.or.us, rep.salesquival@state.or.us, rep.lindaflores@state.or.us, rep.billgarrard@state.or.us, rep.vicgilliam@state.or.us, rep.fredgirod@state.or.us, rep.brucehanna@state.or.us, rep.bobjenson@state.or.us, rep.waynekrieger@state.or.us, rep.ronmaurer@state.or.us, rep.karenminnis@state.or.us, rep.donnanelson@state.or.us, rep.andyolson@state.or.us, rep.dennisrichardson@state.or.us, rep.waynescott@state.or.us, rep.pattismith@state.or.us, rep.kimthatcher@state.or.us, rep.genewhisnant@state.or.us
 
Sign up for the Wingard Report by emailing wingardreport@yahoo.com.        
 

15% of Oregonians are living without health insurance.  12% of kids under 19 are uninsured.  The Governor has proposed raising the cigarette tax to fund his Healthy Kids Program, which he considers a step toward universal healthcare for all Oregonians.
 
The high cost of insurance, and an inability to pay for medical care out of pocket are problems for Oregonians, but I’m not sure that providing subsidized healthcare for families who make $60,000 a year is the answer.  Instead, I believe Oregonians should look towards a doctor in Tennessee.

Dr. Robert Berry, runs the PATMOS Clinic in Greeneville, TN.  PATMOS stands for Payment At TiMe of Service—the clinic does not accept health insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare.  Instead, prices are listed on the clinic’s website and in the waiting room, and patients pay with check, cash, or their favorite credit card – just like at any other business.  But they’re not paying the same prices as at any doctor: according to a recent World Magazine article, his rates are one-third to one-half the fees that an uninsured patient would pay to most healthcare providers.
 
Dr. Berry’s clinic makes sense on several different levels:
 
Uninsured folks who don’t have a regular doctor but need medical care have an option besides the Emergency Room.  ER visits are expensive, and don’t generally involve follow-up care.  PATMOS offers quick, affordable care and leaves the ER available for real emergencies.
 
Whoever pays gets the final say.  When the state, or an insurance company is paying the bills, doctors are forced to cater to a third party instead of the patient.  At PATMOS, there is no middleman, and patients reap the benefit.
 
PATMOS Clinic is efficient.  Dr. Berry estimates that he would need at least two billing clerks if he accepted insurance.  Reduced costs for the clinic equals reduced costs for patients.
 
Patients have an idea of how much their healthcare really costs, and a better sense of how their decisions affect their health, and their bottom line.
 
PATMOS isn’t just an acronym, it’s also an island where ancient Romans exiled political prisoners, among them the Apostle John.   Dr. Berry’s clinic serves his neighbors, those he classifies as “too poor for $10 co-pay insurance and too rich for Medicaid.”  The working class who are, he says “effectively political exiles within our healthcare system.”
 
Dr. Berry’s clinic model serves as a refuge for “exiles,” offering affordable patient centered service in a timely manner. 
 
The number of Oregonians without affordable healthcare is a problem. Clinics like Dr. Berry’s should be part of the solution.

Citizen Magazine’s John Paulton has a fascinating article on the possibility that Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens will retire this summer, leaving an opening for a conservative Bush nominee.

All political eyes are on John Paul Stevens these days. For months, the 86-year-old Supreme Court Justice has been the subject of speculation. First, there were rumors of ill health. Then came surprising reports that the Court’s longest-serving liberal wants to resign his seat while a Republican holds the White House, out of a sense of loyalty to the man who nominated him—the late President Gerald Ford. Current speculation is that a Stevens resignation could come this summer, after the Court has concluded its current term.

Even if a Stevens vacancy does not happen this year, the odds are that the next Supreme Court opening will result from a liberal vacating his or her seat. The average age of the four conservative jurists is 59, while the average age of the remaining justices is 73. Should one of the liberal seats open up while President Bush is still in office, the political battle for the ages would begin. After all, if one of the liberal justices were to be replaced with one who recognizes a constitutional duty to interpret rather than create the law, there is a strong chance that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision could be overturned, sending control over abortion back to the states.

 That reality has the Left apoplectic. As the Roberts and Alito confirmation battles revealed, most liberals view abortion as the one right that must be protected above all others—and that means holding on to the courts at all cost.
 
But many other critical matters are at stake as well. The definition of marriage, religious freedom, school choice, property rights and national security are among the many issues in which activist, left-leaning courts have held sway. While adding a fifth conservative to the Court wouldn’t change things overnight, the eventual impact could be breathtaking. It’s no wonder that the battle lines are drawn.
 
The first question regarding any Supreme Court vacancy is whether President Bush will deliver a solid nominee whom social conservatives can enthusiastically support.
 
Read the rest here.

From Rep. Carolyn Tomei’s (D-Milwaukie) excellent weekly newsletter: